Born: 1936 Nairobi, Kenya Lives and works in Humboldt County, California Jesse Allen has been a highly visible staple of the Bay Area art community for over forty years and continues to expand the breadth of his work. Jesse’s richly detailed techniques create a visual maze to follow through the entire work, weaving a spiritual portrait of a place. Allen’s personal mythologies denote symbolism to each individual plant, creature, and earth form in his pieces, creating complex visual narratives. Allen takes most of his imagery from the landscape of Kenya, where he was born and lived until his late teens. He received a degree in modern languages from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, England. Allen cites the two years following his graduation, spent living in Milan, as fundamental to his development as a painter. An entirely self-taught artist, Allen moved to the United States to teach, and eventually left his post as a language professor at Stanford University to pursue painting full-time.